Welcome to Medical News Today

Healthline Media, Inc. would like to process and share personal data (e.g., mobile ad id) and data about your use of our site (e.g., content interests) with our third party partners (see a current list) using cookies and similar automatic collection tools in order to a) personalize content and/or offers on our site or other sites, b) communicate with you upon request, and/or c) for additional reasons upon notice and, when applicable, with your consent.

Healthline Media, Inc. is based in and operates this site from the United States. Any data you provide will be primarily stored and processed in the United States, pursuant to the laws of the United States, which may provide lesser privacy protections than European Economic Area countries.

By clicking “accept” below, you acknowledge and grant your consent for these activities unless and until you withdraw your consent using our rights request form. Learn more in our Privacy Policy.

Please accept our privacy terms

We use cookies and similar technologies to improve your browsing experience, personalize content and offers, show targeted ads, analyze traffic, and better understand you. We may share your information with third-party partners for marketing purposes. To learn more and make choices about data use, visit our Advertising Policy and Privacy Policy. By clicking “Accept and Continue” below, (1) you consent to these activities unless and until you withdraw your consent using our rights request form, and (2) you consent to allow your data to be transferred, processed, and stored in the United States.

Register for a free account

Mental Health Improves With Just Twenty Active Minutes Per Week

Published
Thursday 17 April 2008 Published Thu 17 Apr 2008

By Anna Sophia McKenney

Performing as little as twenty minutes of any physical activity,
including housework, per week is enough to boost mental health. This
conclusion was made as part of a study published on April 10, 2008 in
the British Journal of Sports Medicine, one of the
BMJ Specialist Journals.

While it has been previously shown that regular exercise is beneficial
for mental health, few professionals agree on how much or what types of
activity are best. Physical activity curtails the risk of a number of
serious diseases, including heart disease and certain cancers.
Additionally, several biological risk factors are lowered by exercise,
including glucose intolerance and inflammation, which have been
additionally linked to depression and dementia.

In this study a representative sample of almost 20,000 men and women
were quizzed about their state of mind and how much physical activity
they engaged in, as part of the Scottish Health Survey. Using a
validated score system, it was determined that over 3,000 of the
participants suffered from stress or anxiety. However, any form of
daily physical activity was associated with lower distress, after
correcting for other factors, such as age, gender, and the presence of
a long term condition.

Beneficial activities were varied, and included housework, gardening,
walking, and sports. The strongest effect was seen in subjects
participating in sports, who had a 33% lower risk of distress. The
results showed that while a minimum twenty minutes improved the mental
health of the subject, a higher level of activity indicated a lower
chance of psychological distress.

2019 Healthline Media UK Ltd. All rights reserved. MNT is the registered trade mark of Healthline Media. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a healthcare professional.